Oscar DeLeon pours topping onto a scoop of ice cream at Scoops ice cream shop in the Tlaquepaque Market at Eastwood Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Houston. DeLeon, a high-energy former school teacher, features

Oscar DeLeon has topping poured onto a scoop of ice cream at Scoops ice cream shop in the Tlaquepaque Market at Eastwood Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Houston. DeLeon, a high-energy former school teacher, features

The menu at Scoops ice cream shop shows fractions as part of the pricing in the Tlaquepaque Market at Eastwood Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Houston. Owner Oscar DeLeon, a high-energy former school teacher, features educational tidbits throughout his shop. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )

The menu at Scoops ice cream shop shows fractions as part of the pricing in the Tlaquepaque Market at Eastwood Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Houston. Owner Oscar DeLeon, a high-energy former school teacher,

Eduardo Pacheco plays with a Rubik's Cube as he waits for his ice cream at Scoops ice cream shop in the Tlaquepaque Market at Eastwood Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Houston. Owner Oscar DeLeon, a high-energy former school teacher, features educational tidbits throughout his shop. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )

Eduardo Pacheco plays with a Rubik's Cube as he waits for his ice cream at Scoops ice cream shop in the Tlaquepaque Market at Eastwood Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Houston. Owner Oscar DeLeon, a high-energy former

Guillermo Chino, one of two bread bakers who work for the Imperial Bakery, shows off a pan dulce as Aiden Ortiz, creepa around the cash registerWednesday, May 8, 2013, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Chronicle )

Guillermo Chino, one of two bread bakers who work for the Imperial Bakery, shows off a pan dulce as Aiden Ortiz, creepa around the cash registerWednesday, May 8, 2013, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Chronicle

Craft beer-drinking 20-somethings meet at the coffeehouse Bohemeo's, while longtime patrons of the 48-year-old Space City Hearing Aids sometimes go just to shoot the breeze.

The barbershop, now owned by Amparo De La Rosa, is much older.

The 3-week-old ice cream shop Scoops is owned by a 28-year-old former Pasadena school teacher, Oscar DeLeon, who hopes to get kids excited about education when they show up.

He'll write fun facts on his bulletin board, like "80 percent of Earth's surface is volcanic," and there are Rubik's Cubes at the tables. Kids get a free cone when they attain perfect attendance, make the honor roll or volunteer at school.

Adkins, the landlord of Tlaquepaque Plaza, may not win any design awards for his modest multi­colored shopping center, but his tenants seem to like him.

"His word is golden," said Adanary Jacques of Luz de Luna Studios, a photography studio that opened this year. "He feels like an uncle who really cares and wants to put in tenants that will contribute to everyone's success."

Adkins, 78, looks for retailers who will add value to the community, he said, like the day care center there.

He ignored offers from developers who wanted to buy it to tear it down, he said, and removed a bar from the center and put it on another property he owns.

Some of his Tlaquepaque tenants have helped him sign other retailers.

Fred Zapalac, co-owner of Blue Line Bike Lab, first visited the center when he'd bike around the East End and stop at Bohemeo's.

His original Blue Line bike sales and service shop, which he owns with his brother David Zapalac, has been in the Heights since 2005.

When his bike-riding friends Jessica Soller and Keith Adkins - Dick Adkins' nephew - bought Bohemeo's last year, Zapalac began thinking of opening a second bike shop in the center, because he believes the East End is about to take off.

"There are a lot of parallels with the East End and the Heights," Zapalac said. "The Heights was a lot different when we opened there."

Sense of community

A bike shop such as his, as well as places like yoga studios and coffeehouses, are "markers for the evolution of a neighborhood," he said, and help create a sense of community.

"They get the attention of other businesses who may be thinking of moving here once they see we're making it," said Zapalac, who noted sales at his East End bike shop climb each month.

The Zapalacs in turn persuaded other bike-riding friends to open Oak Leaf Smokehouse on property Adkins owns a block away at 1000 Telephone.

"The growing retail base reflects the changes in the East End now underway," said Diane Schenke, president of the Greater East End Management District. She expects the trend to accelerate with the opening of the East End light-rail line next year.

Tlaquepaque Plaza is a unique center in the East End, she said, and the surrounding community is "delighted" to see new stores coming in.

Adkins owns most of the two blocks containing Tlaquepaque Plaza. The center is bounded by Telephone, Lockwood and Dumble.

A Rice University alumnus, Adkins said he has accumulated real estate around Houston and California. He described Tlaquepaque as a hobby that turns a profit.

He remodeled and renamed the center in 2004 after visiting an artisan market near Guadalajara called Tlaquepaque. His center is dotted with courtyards and outdoor folk art displays.

Thai restaurant Kanomwan has helped give the center a more multicultural flavor.

Two tenants there serve as community centers.

Bohemeo's was founded in 2006 by Lupe and Sid Oliverez. They made the coffeehouse a neighborhood gathering place for meetings, live music and art displays. They also launched an East End Arts Festival at the center, which ran for a few years.

Next door to Bohemeo's is the nonprofit Houston Institute for Culture, which promotes at-risk youth programs and media and traditional arts and other events, including an annual Frida Kahlo festival.

For several years, an East End Urban Market was held at the center featuring merchants selling food and crafts.

Karla Urcuyo, owner of Kris MultiServices, was only 23 when she approached Adkins 10 years ago with her idea to open an auto title and insurance business.

"He let me rent this place with no money," she said. "Everything I have and the woman I am is because of this place."

Adkins' office is in an old building across the street from the center.

While chewing gum, he leaned back in his chair and shared some history.

The center's first section was built in 1929, and the next phase opened in 1940, he said. Early tenants included Mading's drugstore and ABC Stores grocery.

The past lives

Adkins keeps remnants of the center's past.

At Blue Line Bike Lab, for example, are hanging light fixtures from the post office that operated in the center from about 1950 to 2000. As a teen, Adkins worked at the post office over the Christmas holidays.

Also in the bike shop is a sign for Royal York Coffee, a product of Petheriotes Brothers Coffee Co. The late Greek-American brothers Jimmy and Angelo Petheriotes roasted and ground coffee and sold restaurant supplies at the center.

Space City Hearing Aids is owned by their 59-year-old nephew, Michael Matandos.

Some Space City customers will come and stay for an hour just to talk, Matandos said. "I feel like a bartender sometimes."